Last week's
Overseas Press Club of America awards placed Getty Images' achievements as a news organization on par with those of
The New York Times. Former foreign correspondent, current United Nations representative for CARE International and OPC board member Kathleen Hunt singled out the two companies for their dedication to quality international journalism.
Getty photographers won three of the four photographic prizes awarded annually by OPC, a group of foreign correspondents founded in 1939 in New York. According to Hunt, a map of world conflict can serve as a predictor of where winning journalists work each year. The 2007 awards span Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo and China. The New York Times won six of 21 total awards.
The international sweep of critical acclaim for John Moore's coverage of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto continues. OPC awarded Moore and Getty Images the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award for the best published photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise. The organization praised Moore's courage in capturing a significant historical moment.
The John Faber Award for best newspaper or wire-service photographic reporting from abroad went to Getty's Paula Bronstein for "Death in Karachi." Broinstein's report depicted other victims of the same suicide-bomber attack that claimed Bhutto.
Getty's Bret Stirton took the Feature Photography Award, which honors works on an international theme published in any medium. Stirton's "Slaughter in the Jungle," which ran in Newsweek, documented the killing of gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, demonstrating the environmental consequences of human conflict.
Agence Vu's Cedric Gerbehave covering the same conflict for Newsweek and won the Olivier Rebbot Award for best photographic reporting from abroad in magazines or books. According to the OPC, Gerbehave's "images of fear, exhaustion and terrible resignation are tangible evidence of the peril that literally consumes people in the region," where 5 million have died since 1998.
Freelance photographer Tim Hetherington, the winner of this year's top World Press Photo prize, is among a group of journalists honored with the David Kaplan Award for best TV spot-news reporting from abroad. Covering the war in Afghanistan for ABC News, Hetherington and colleague Sebastian Junger traveled with a platoon of American soldiers operating in one of the war's most dangerous combat areas.
The Edward R. Murrow Award for best TV interpretation or documentary on international affairs went to NOW on PBS for "Child Brides: Stolen Lives," applauded for "vivid imagery" and courage rivaling documentaries depicting war or politics. The New York Times' "Choking on Growth," a 10-part series that exposed the environmental consequences of China's economic expansion, won the Whitman Bassow Award for best international environmental-issue reporting in any medium.
Getty Images' performance in the OPC Awards follows strong showings in two other photojournalism competitions. Earlier this month, Getty photographers nearly swept NPPA's annual Best of Photojournalism contest. In February, they also took home five prizes in the 51st annual World Press Photo Contest, including three first prizes. Bronstein, Moore and Stirton have each won multiple awards for last year's work.